I really have to complain about the FX used for the super-anomaly. Enterprise is usually top notch for this kind of thing, but this anomaly looked exactly like a close up shot of some sort of bubbling foam. It was like something out of a cheesy 50s sci-fi flick.

Also, we have yet another example of an alien who can walk through walls, but doesn’t fall through the floor.

In "Bounty", we learn that Vulcan females do indeed go through Pon'Farr, the Vulcan mating drive which surfaces once every seven years. This episode indicates that the females at least are also prepared to mate outside of that cycle.

Interestingly enough, this episode was set two days after Christmas day. No sign of decorations or anything on the ship, though.

Plotline

On the way to the Xindi weapon development site, Enterprise discovers a small ship floating within a vast anomaly. A dying alien is found within the craft, and Archer suspects that his people may have some link to the existence of the Expanse. Meanwhile Trip is becoming closer to one of the MACOs, much to T’Pol’s displeasure, and Reed and Hayes finally decide to settle their differences by beating the hell out of one another.

Analysis

This is a very odd episode. We have three almost completely unconnected stories going on, none of which really come together very satisfactorily. It’s nice to see that T’Pol and Trip get together at last, but disappointing that she then chickens out next morning and feeds him a line about experimenting with Human sexuality. It’s also nice to see Reed and Hayes finally deciding that the time has come to hit one another hard and often – they’ve been building towards this for a long time now and although this story was by far the most cliché, it was also the most satisfying.

The disappointment of the episode is the alien story. This was potentially the most interesting, because it hints that the aliens are the sphere builders, which means that they created the Expanse. The last line also hints that these aliens might be the ones who have convinced the Xindi to attack Earth. The obvious conclusion is that the aliens are seeking some sort of foothold in our space, and want to make sure that those pesky Humans are out of the way.